The invention relates to a position detection system. More particularly, the invention is directed to a position detection system using modulated light sources that is useful in locating a desired pattern of apertures in a surface, such as a circuit board.
It is a general practice to assemble electrical components of low production volume, high component density printed circuit boards by hand. It is an industry-wide objective to introduce computer controlled robotic manipulators into the aforedescribed manufacture of circuit boards. Such robotic manipulators provide more accurate assembly and production flexibility which will ultimately lower the costs of manufacturing specialized circuit board assemblies.
Although a significant degree of accuracy has been obtained in the area of positional control of the robot end effector or manipulator for many different tasks, circuit board construction presents several unique problems, for example: component orientation, component acquisition, component positioning and component insertion.
It is generally an object of this invention to provide a system to facilitate the positioning of an acquired component at the desired circuit board location.
It is an additional object of this invention to provide an optical feedback system for use with a multilead component manipulator. The optical feedback system permits the use of a single photodetector apparatus in conjunction with several modulated light sources.